The Azzurri overwhelmed Wales in Rome last year, and Steve Hansen's men squeezed past them in last November's World Cup.

But Cooper warned the ferocious Italian forwards held no fears for Wales after the 27-15 victory which sealed their place in the World Cup quarter-finals.

And he vowed the 30-22 defeat at the Stadio Flaminio last season, which put Wales on course for a Six Nations whitewash, had only made the players more deter-mined to avoid a repeat.

"It's not a revenge mission, but it is extra motivation," said Cooper, who watched from the bench as Wales capitulated in Italy. "It was a horrible day for us out in Rome and we don't want anything like that to happen again.

get parity up front we will be able to beat them. They're a big pack and we want to move them around the park. We need to box quite cleverly.

"We certainly don't fear them and we're going into the game as favourites."

The Welsh tight-five has come in for criticism in this season's campaign, with the scrum crushed under pressure from the French, and the lineout malfunctioning against England.

It was in the pack where Italy's forwards dominated against Wales last year.

And after Scotland became their latest victims on home soil, coach John Kirwan has been targeting the Welsh clash to gain Italy's first ever away win in the Six Nations.

But Cooper stressed: "We have been concentrating on our set-piece to get that right. If we can match them up front we can do something behind the scrum.

"They have improved every year. They beat us last year and they pushed us right to the end of the game in the World Cup.

"They've now beaten Scotland and against Ireland they put them to the sword at times. This is the strongest Italian side we've faced." Tomorrow's game also marks Steve Hansen's last game after his two-year reign in charge of the national side.

"There's no doubt it is a motivational factor," Cooper added. "Steve's done a good job and he is a real team man. All the boys like him.

"It's a big game anyway. We want to play well for ourselves but we want to give him a good send-off too.

"It's not about impressing the new coach (Mike Ruddock), we just want to play as well as we can to win the game. "

With Wales lying in fourth place after just the one victory in the opening game over Scotland, Cooper stressed it was crucial the side wins to do justice to the progress the players have made since finishing bottom of the table last season.

"It's vitally important we win," he said. "We have shown glimpses of what we can do but we have got to finish the campaign on a high to keep the fans happy."

Cooper is also keen to show his individual performance against England last weekend was no flash in the pan after below-par displays against Ireland and France.

He added: "I thought it was a good step forwards. If I can improve at the same rate in each game, I will be happy."